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Everyone loves cookies at Christmastime. So, I decided to experiment with a snickerdoodle cookie for day two of Advent Season.

Day 2- Snickerdoodle Cookies

Difficulty: Piece of Cake!

I don’t have much experience with cookie-making, but I decided to give this Martha Stewart Snickerdoodle Cookie recipe a try. I picked this snickerdoodle recipe because it uses vegetable shortening in addition to butter, and I recently had a great experience with vegetable shortening in a pie crust (it was much easier to work with than a pie crust with just butter).

Overall, I’d give this recipe three out of five stars. I admit, I’m a real chocolate chip cookie fan, and the sugarish cookies just do less for me. But, these were really fun to make. In traditional cookies, the fillings are mixed in the dough. But with this one, the cinnamon and sugar are added after the dough is already made.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

Author: Martha

Serves: 4 dozen

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup pure vegetable shortening

1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed

2 large eggs

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.

Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, shortening, and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine.

In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small (1 1/4-ounce) ice-cream scoop to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after 5 minutes.

Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.